Junior Galette on joining Redskins: ‘I’m not here to talk about the past’

RICHMOND — Junior Galette sat down with Scot McCloughan on Thursday night, laid out his life story and asked for a job.

The outside linebacker was at a crossroads, released on Monday by the New Orleans Saints, the only organization he had known in his five-plus years of professional football. He had been arrested in January on allegations of domestic violence, and, in June, a two-year-old video that appears to show him striking several people with a belt on a beach was uncovered on the Internet.

Galette was direct, telling the Washington Redskins’ general manager that he had made some mistakes. McCloughan was also frank, reminding Galette there were certain standards he would have to meet if he were to join the team.

“He was honest, and I loved it,” Galette said Friday. “I loved the honesty. He shared the same passion and enthusiasm that I had.”

That understanding led to the Redskins extending a deal that the outside linebacker gladly accepted. The contract, for one year, is worth $745,000, the minimum for a player with five years’ experience, according to Galette’s agent, Alvin Keels.

Galette and Keels both said the contract isn’t about the money, and it didn’t need to be. Galette signed a four-year, $41.5 million deal with New Orleans last September — a deal that guaranteed him $23 million — and then was released at a significant cost.

As a sign of how desperate the Saints were to move on from Galette and his troubles, they will assume roughly $17.5 million in salary cap penalties over the next two years, including $12 million in 2016 — an amount that would rank as the second-highest hit on the Redskins this season.

Galette, 27, would immediately figure to start opposite Ryan Kerrigan at outside linebacker and is likely to push starter Trent Murphy and second-round pick Preston Smith, among others, into reserve roles.

The move, however, comes as somewhat of a risk for the Redskins, who signed the troubled player without any guarantee he will be able to play for them when the season begins on Sept. 13. The NFL’s investigation into Galette’s actions is ongoing, and Galette and coach Jay Gruden each said Friday that they are uncertain what his status may be.

“There is a concern there,” Gruden admitted. “We’ll have to wait and see, you know? The league is going to do their due diligence and make their decision … and whatever the punishment is, we’ll live with it and we’ll respect that, and I know Junior will too and we’ll have to wait. Right now, we signed a very good football player who we think is going to help us, and we’ll go from there.”

After meeting with Gruden, McCloughan and president Bruce Allen, among others, Galette had the chance to speak with several defensive players, engaging cornerback DeAngelo Hall, nose tackle Terrance Knighton, defensive end Jason Hatcher and others in a conversation in a hallway at the team’s training camp hotel.

“With anything comes a little bit of risk, and I’m not coming in here saying he’s going to be a model citizen, but I think we’ve got enough great guys in that locker room to help show him the way,” said Hall, who also is one of Keels’ clients.

“I think he’s going to make everybody on this team a little bit better, and I felt like it was a no-brainer, his talent. Obviously, our staff and front office had to do their due diligence to make sure it made sense for us as a team, and they felt like we had enough guys in our locker room, enough leaders, that we would definitely be able to keep him focused on football and not worry about the other outside distractions.”

Galette had 10 sacks last season, down slightly from the 12 he had a year before, but he finished with a career-high 45 tackles. He was voted as a team captain last season, an honor celebrated at the time by his teammates, but his outspoken nature and persistent criticism reportedly rankled many of his teammates and others in the organization by the time the season had ended.

Over the weekend, a lengthy tirade was posted on the Twitter account of a woman who presented herself as Galette’s girlfriend, outlining several issues perceived to exist within the Saints organization. According to one person familiar with Galette’s situation, that rant, since deleted, was enough of a concern to scare off at least one team interested in signing him.

“I’m not here to talk about the past,” Galette said, when asked about his issues. “People are always going to have their opinions. I’m not too worried about the opinions of people I’ve never met. I’m just thankful I’ve gotten the opportunity to play the game that I love.”

Born in Haiti, Galette moved to the metropolitan New York as a child and was one of Knighton’s teammates at Temple for three years. He chose to transfer to Stillman, a Division II college, for his senior season after a cousin who had been staying with him was connected to the theft of two laptop computers from a dormitory.

Undrafted in 2010, Galette made the team and played in four games as a rookie before cracking the rotation and making an appearance in all 16 games the following season.

Gruden said Galette would take a few days to grow acclimated to the Redskins’ defense before joining the team for practice. He spent the opening part of Friday’s session working out with strength and conditioning coach Mike Clark before watching the rest of the session in his new No. 58 practice jersey.

“I’m just grateful to have this opportunity,” Galette said. “I’m just blessed and grateful to be [with the Redskins]. I just want to move forward and not worry about the past, but what’s ahead of me.”